Permanent Establishments: A Domestic Taxation, Bilateral Tax Treaty and OECD Perspective

Permanent Establishments (PEs) are a key facet of international taxation. They constitute the crucial threshold for the assignment of taxing rights to a jurisdiction in all cases of enterprises operating in more than one country. The issue of whether there is a PE, and how much profit should be allocated to it, is an increasingly important factor in tax planning, tax accounting, tax compliance, and related tax risk management.

Groundbreaking developments have reshaped the face of the classical PE concept during the year 2017. Following action item no. 7 of the Anti-BEPS efforts of G20 and OECD, the OECD has presented the Multilateral Instrument (MLI) on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting in June 2017. Based on the MLI as well as earlier drafts, Article 5 of the OECD Model Tax Convention and the Official Commentary have been amended in November 2017. Similarly, Article 7 of the OECD Model Tax Convention on the allocation of income in PE situations is influenced by the October 2015 OECD BEPS proposals.

This academically rigorous yet thoroughly practical work provides comprehensive guidance on a variety of complex PE issues. Its initial chapters analyse the latest OECD and EU developments in the context of Articles 5 and 7 of the OECD Model Tax Convention. 21 country chapters cover domestic PE issues as well as country-specific treaty developments from a practical perspective.